Maya Angelou

News about Maya Angelou, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Apr. 10, 2015

Op-Ed article by author Erin McKean points to misattribution of words printed on stamp bearing image of author Maya Angelou as example of Churchillian Drift, phenomena in which quotation is mistakenly credited to another person in same field; notes that quote is actually that of children's book author Joan Walsh Anglund; says resonance of a quotation is often more important than its provenance. MORE

Apr. 9, 2015

United States Postal Service issues stamp honoring author Maya Angelou that features quote from book of poems by Joan Walsh Anglund; does not plan to reissue stamp, saying quote was meaningful to Angelou and that she is publicly identified with it. MORE

Jun. 4, 2014

Jessica B Harris article recalls writer Maya Angelou's love of cooking and entertainment; says her way with words and spices created a totally engaging and fascinating cooking experience. MORE

May. 30, 2014

Maya Angelou first moved to New York City in 1959 to join the Harlem Writers Guild at the urging of a novelist friend; even after Angelou left to live in other cities, she frequently returned to New York and bought a brownstone on 120th Street in 2004, which she transformed into a kind of salon, mixing dancers with activists, musicians with writers. MORE

May. 29, 2014

Maya Angelou, legendary author, poet, playwright and activist, dies at age 86; her 1969 book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was among the first autobiographies by a 20th-century black woman to reach a wide readership. MORE

May. 29, 2014

Excerpt from Maya Angelou's memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in which she describes three white girls accosting her grandmother in the 1930's; Angelou has died at age of 86. MORE

May. 29, 2014

Appraisal by poet Elizabeth Alexander of writer Maya Angelou; asserts Angelou's works rendered not only her own life visible but also offered nothing short of a history of black social movements in the second half of the 20th century and the participation of the women who helped make change happen against a million odds. MORE

Apr. 21, 2013

Download interview with author Maya Angelou, whose most recent book Mom & Me & Mom has been published; Angelou offers recommendations for books, music and cooking. MORE